


Audience of One

by OfficialStarsandGutters



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-11-23
Packaged: 2018-05-03 01:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5271020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfficialStarsandGutters/pseuds/OfficialStarsandGutters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt: Richard on the couch with a glass of wine, learning a script, while Severin watches him adoringly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Audience of One

Richard is curled up in the corner of the couch. He is confined to that corner due to the fact that Pez has stretched his body across the other two cushions, and is dominating most of the couch, his furry belly rising and falling as he breathes in his sleep. Richard doesn't mind. It's not often Pez voluntarily spends time with him like this. His wine glass is balanced on the arm, half empty, and the television is off as he goes over his lines. Keeping the script in his lap and his eyes raised as he runs through them with an imaginary co-star.

“You're wrong. No, you are, and you've always been wrong about me. I'm not some frail, fragile thing that will break under the smallest amount of pressure, and I'm not reliant on you, either. No. That's what you want to believe, and it's what you want me to believe, because as long as that is true you have power over me. I am not who you think I am. _I'm not!_ ”

Pez gives out an angry yowl in reprimand when Richard's raised voice stirs him from his slumber. Richard's serious demeanour breaks instantly, and he lets out a soft, amused exhale. Over the sound of his yelling, he misses the noise of the door opening.

“I'm sorry, kitty,” Richard coos, his voice low and soft and warm, comforting Pez into settling down again. He strokes a light finger along the top of his head. Pez emits a rumbling purr, tucking his paws beneath him and looking at Richard in an accusatory manner with those sharp green eyes. “Okay, okay. No more shouting. I'll do a different scene, alright?”

Pez blinks, and Richard takes that as approval. He shuffles through his script to a later scene, setting it in his lap just in case he needs to check it, but it's the week before rehearsals start, and he's committed most of the script to memory by now. He takes a long breath, and even as he does so his expression and body language is changing, shifting into something softer. 

“I've missed you,” he says.

Severin sets his bag by the door as gently as he can.  _Missed you, too,_ he thinks.

“How long has it been? I would understand days, weeks- But no. It's only been a matter of hours, and yet here I am, aching with how much I miss you. It's like you're the summer, and when you leave winter seeps into me.”

Severin slowly makes his way towards the couch, captivated as always by Richard's performance. The emotion that flows through his voice so effortlessly. The little movements and actions that look so natural, but that he knows are not Richard's own mannerisms. He is so beautiful. In his fleecy Hogwarts pyjamas and his woolly cat socks (a gift from Molly). Severin can tell by the ruffled way his hair is sitting that he is not long out of the shower. He is so soft and warm, and so entirely precious that Severin feels his own chest twinge at the sight of him alone. 

“That's why you must hurry back, sweetheart. My chest is an icy cave and my heart is frozen, but one touch from you and it will thaw. You must return before this winter strips away the leaves of my soul and I am left bare. I am already barren in your absence, love. Come home and bring the kiss of the sun with you.”

“I think I can manage that,” Severin says, resting his hands on the back of the couch and leaning over Richard. 

“Rin!” Richard jumps, nearly sending his wine glass flying, but it is only once in a blue (drunken) moon that Richard Brook would ever waste wine like that, and he catches and stills it at the last moment. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.” Severin flashes him a cheeky smile, and Richard can't be mad at him. Moving his wine safely to the table, he leans back and stretches his arms up. Severin is captured in them and tugged down into a long, indulgent kiss. Pez fluffs up his fur and gives a disapproving little hiss.

“Pleased to see you too, buddy,” Severin tells the cat, once he and Richard have moved apart. He circles around the couch, and Pez bounces onto the back and prowls to sit on Richard's shoulder. He nuzzles Richard's temple, scenting him, his claim in before Severin. When he's done, he leaps down and goes off to sulk in the bedroom. “Still hates me, then.”

“Aw Rin, he doesn't hate you.”

“Yeaaah yeah. You sounded good.”

“How long were you listening?” Richard looks at him sullenly, and Severin laughs.

“Does it matter? You're an actor. People are meant to watch you.”

“When I'm ready. Not when I'm only practising.”

“Well, I thought you sounded great.” Severin pushes a stray strand of hair away from Richard's forehead, stealing another chaste kiss. “Do you want me to go over some with you?”

“Would you? Just make sure I'm getting them right.” Richard smiles, scooping up the script and flicking back to the beginning of the scene, before handing it to Severin. “Just from here.”

“Okay.”

“And then at the end of this scene, there's a kiss.”

“Oh?” Severin raises an eyebrow.

“Yeah. So I'm going to need lots of practice with that.”

“Well.” Severin smiles. “I'm sure I can help you there.”

 

 


End file.
